Phones were lit, illuminating the jam-packed venue like a starry night.

The crowd had waited all afternoon for this. The audience: the student body of Access Computer College. The event: a university's battle of the bands.

The drummer and guitar players were the first ones to brave the deafening roars inside the Smart Araneta Coliseum for a brief sound check. Things only got louder when the frontman and his backup finally arrived.

Rarely does a band become transcendent to the point that concertgoers sing along to every lyric in their entire set, especially considering that this particular group of musicians hailed from a different generation altogether.

In the early ’90s, during what is now considered the golden age of alternative OPM, two bands dominated the airwaves and public consciousness. Back then, no other act was able to take the lion’s share of the commercial pie outside the first lineup of Rivermaya—Bamboo, Rico, and all—and the four-headed music behemoth that was the Eraserheads.

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At that time, slowly emerging from a university in Katipunan was another band that would eventually swoop in and conquer the Philippine stage. That band was Parokya ni Edgar.

Composed of Chito Miranda (vocals), Vinci Montaner (backup vocals), Gab Chee Kee (guitars), Buwi Meneses (bass), Darius Semaña (guitars), and Dindin Moreno (drums), the six-piece rock group formerly known as Comic Relief, made a name for itself through shameless parodies, cheesy love songs, and more fillers than tracks for their initial records.

Fast forward to 26 years later, and Parokya is still commanding a listening audience that may very well consist of the sons and daughters of their pioneering fan base.

Indeed, Chito, Vinch, Gab, Bu, Dar, and Din have all matured and are now in their 40s. These days, they have less crazy outtakes and more unwanted flabs, but are still rocking in the name of good-natured fun.

Days before the highly anticipated release of their newest album, Pogi Years Old, FHM sat down with the boys, er, men to talk about their artistic maturity (or lack thereof), getting sick of each other, and listen to Vinci suck up to his bandmates.

It's a good thing that you’re fine with that kind of setup—people coming and going every now and then.Chito: You can’t force people to stay, but there’s also no leaving Parokya kasi eh. Like Vinch, three times na siyang nag-take ng break or nag-quit. When he feels like playing again, balik lang siya. Okay naman kami; it’s not a school where you need to enroll.Darius:Pwede pala yun?Chito:Oo. Bakit, gusto mong mag-break?Darius:Hindi, joke lang! Ha ha!Dindin:Sabagay, matanda ka na Dar eh.

Correct us if we’re wrong, but it seems that the band sort of laid low in recent years, particularly in producing a studio album. Your last record was Middle-Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop Rockers, which was six years ago.Chito: It took the band so long to come up with a new one because we were too busy doing tours. Every album, you have to promote for two years. Also, our management really pushed us to play gigs almost every day, so wala kaming free time to sit down and write the album.

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We’ve been constantly working on Pogi Years Old since 2011; never siyang nagkaroon ng lag. Actually, hindi nga kami nagpahinga eh. What happened was, we worked too hard. We took our sweet time. Pag tinamad kami, talagang tamad. We don’t write songs. We’d rather hang out with our families and stay away from each other pag walang tugtog.Gab: And give chance to others [bands].

Has that become the band’s mantra, especially now that you’re all grown up, taking your sweet time in everything that you do?Chito:Medyo. Most of the time, we’re away from our families for weeks, especially during out-of-the-country tours. We’re not taking things slow, rather, we prioritize our free time differently now. Our collective mindset now is, “We’re old, we already have families,” so we try not to push ourselves tulad ng dati na sobrang aggressive namin at constantly work, work, work. Before, we had no money to buy anything, we had no distractions. Tuloy-tuloy kasi yung work eh, so wala kaming choice but to slow down whenever we have the chance.

“We’re not taking things slow, rather, we prioritize our free time differently now.Our collective mindset now is,'We’re old, we already have families,'so we try not to push ourselves...”

Dindin:Dati, meron kaming usual conversations na, “Tara, practice tayo. Kelan? Sa jaberday?”Chito: Never na nangyari. We try our best to stay away from each other. We’re sick of each other. We see each other every day. We’ve been working together since 1990.Dindin: Si Chito, since prep ko pa nakikita yan eh.Chito:Sawang-sawa na talaga kami sa isa’t isa. Pero whenever we work together, we still have fun, so it’s still fresh. I could compare it to a successful marriage.

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What did maturity bring to the group’s working dynamic and habits?Chito: In terms of attitude, siguro we’re more relaxed. Especially me, I used to be bossy. Ngayon, ako na yata yung mas tamad sa kanila eh. When it comes to music, we figured out how to work more efficiently. We go to the studio, record a song in a day instead of five. Now, we know what we’re doing. With each other, mas mature na kami, we don’t get into fights anymore…lalo na nung wala na si Buwi.Vinci:Pero bumalik naman ako eh.Chito:Oo, so I guess we’d be getting into fights again.Vinci:Kinukuha lang nila ’ko kasi yung foundation niyan plastikan. Ha ha! Kidding aside, it’s true friendship; magkakaibigan nga muna kami bago kami nag-banda, except Darius, teacher nga namin siya nun. There’s no secret to it. It’s like inviting your old friend back to your home, after niyong mag-away.Darius:Para siyang prodigal son na lumayas tapos bumalik.

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Most of your predecessors point to artistic differences when explaining why their members eventually parted ways. Are those kinds of things the least of your worries?Chito:Hindi naman kami talaga mga musikero na umaabot sa point na nagka-clash when it comes to musical directions. We just want to play, enjoy being in a band. Never kami nagkaron ng differences pagdating sa artistic integrity because we have none of that. Ha ha!Vinci: Except me.Chito: Except si Vinch, so medyo, “Ay, ayoko yang kanta na yan, quit ako.” Darius:Alam na namin yung capability of one each person, kung hanggang saan kaya, so hindi na kami nag-e-expect ng more than that.Gab: Mediocre to a fault.

“I think the mediocrity and lack of skill worked for us as a band and a group, because it makes our music more accessible to everyone”

What about songwriting? How have all the years you’ve shared contributed to the lyric-writing process?Gab:Sa songwriting, ganun pa rin eh, kung ano yung nag-a-affect sa’yo eh, di ba?Chito: If you put some songs from the old albums sa pinakabago, you wouldn’t know the difference. Walang pinagbago eh. Don’t get us wrong. We try our best to improve our craft, but unfortunately that’s all we have. And it works in making us comfortable with each other. Okay na kami sa drums ni Dindin, ganun din kay Dar…pag may kanta ko na hindi ganun kaganda, I give it to them and they’ll make it better.

How did growing old affect the patented Parokya humor?Dindin:Tito jokes na kami ngayon eh.Vinci: Part of the reason why I left a number of times before this is because I see it, nagiging seryoso din ako; ayoko nun eh. I want it as fresh as it can be… Okay yan si Dar, okay yan si Gab. Ha ha!

It pretty much looks like you don’t miss the stuff that you were able to do when you were younger.Chito: We don’t miss anything because we still get to live our lives every day as we did 20 years ago.Dindin:Sawa na tayo.Gab:Dati bumabiyahe tayo ng malayo, ta’s hindi tayo natutulog, nagkukulitan lang tayo the whole time? Eight hours tuloy-tuloy.Chito: Pero now that we’re old, may kanya-kanya na kaming bunk beds so we sleep. Napaka-boring na…Gab: …ng backstage life namin.Dindin:Walang girls, walang buffet.Chito:Walang alak, we just have water, a few sandwiches.Vinci:Pero masaya na kami dun!Chito: I think we lived too fast, eventually, we slowed down early. Nag-retire kami at the age of 40, and it still feels good because this is what we want to do. Kung nasan man kami ngayon is what we want at the moment. We have the ability, capability, and blessing to do just that.Dindin: And we’re still having fun.Chito:Oo. Eto na yung masaya sa’min eh, mga tito hits.

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Despite not completely leaving the scene, like some of your contemporaries, you guys are still able to induce nostalgia amongst your fans. Why do you guys think that is?Chito: The reason may nostalgic effect is because we’re so old. We’ve been in the scene for so long, so whenever we play our old songs, para siyang nostalgic. It’s nice having people na kasabay sa sound trip yung mga anak nila. That’s very flattering for us.Darius:Tuloy-tuloy lang kasi natin ginagawa tapos hindi natin napansin na ganun na pala katagal.

You mentioned earlier that being in Parokya is just like being a part of a successful marriage. Do you have any tips on band longevity that can be applied to romantic relationships?Vinci:Wag kayong paalis-alis, pabalik-balik! Ha ha!Chito:Wag kayong on and off sa relationship.Gab:Kailangan steady.Chito: I think we’ve grown na na-embrace, na-appreciate, at natatawa na lang kami sa ugali ng bawat isa, both positive and negative. It’s just a matter of respecting and accepting the personalities of each individual. Parang sa kasal, you love the imperfections of the person that you’re married to. Kung papanindigan mo yung gusto mo lang, it won’t work out. It’s always good vibes and compromise, two-way. Sometimes three-way, okay din. Ha ha!